Lighter



1949. R. F. LANDWEHR ,4 1,3

LIGHTER Filed Dec. 19, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2v INVENTOR Richardlf'fiaxzd em BY .ZZZFUI'TORNEY Patented Feb. 8, 1949 Richar'd Landwehr, Laurelton, Long Island, N. Y.,-assignor to American -Safety Razor :Cornotation, Brooklyn, N. Y.,-a..conporation of Vir- .ginia.

Application December 19, 1945,2'SerialNo 635,847

I 4 Claims.

.1 My present invention relates toimprovements in lighters adapted for lighting cigars and cigarettes, and aims primarily to provide a novel and advantageous lighter having special features of construction whereby assembly and disassembly of the parts are facilitated and the operation'of the device is advantageous in comparison with the operation of lighters heretofore in use.

A further object of the invention is to. provide is. lighter wherein substantially all of the casing and operating parts are held togethersbyqa single pivot pin.

Another obj ectrof the invention is to'provide a lighter wherein a close .fit is maintained at all times between therear portion of cover and theouter casing at the rear and sides of the opening closed by the cones.

For the attainment of these objects and-such other objects, features "and advantages as -ma1y hereafter appear or be pointed out, I have illustrated an embodiment of my invent-ion'wherein:

Fig. 1 is a'pers'pective View of a fully assembled lighter with its cover latched in closed position;

Fig. 2 is a similar view with the cover unlatched I 'and'held in raised position by itsspringi;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 3- 3 of Fig. 4 is a vertical section along the line 4 4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 .is a vertical sec-tion taken along the dine of Fig; 4;

Fig. 6 is a view showing the parts of the lighter in exploded arrangement; and

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary section illustrating a modified latching means for the cover.

Referring to the drawings, the lighter comprises "a fuel tank to, preferably of oblong horizontal cross-section. This fuel tank is open at the bottom and closed 'atthe top by trout and rear top'wallportions H and t2 stepped upwardly from front to rear with an upwardly and rearward-1y inclined connecting Wall. The "f'ront top wall portion M is provided with an opening -l3preferably located midway between the sides of the fuel tank and the rear top wallportion is provided with latch 19 for :agcover-br snufi-er icaptll. l he lower end of said rlatch it is secured by headed 2 screw 19 to thefront Wall of the fuel tank at the lower end of said depression. Above the top wall portion 1| extends the upper part of latch 49 which is provided with a forwardlyv projecting protuberance 2| adapted to serve as a push button. The upper end of said latch 19 has a forwardly extending looking or latching projection 22-. I

.A wick tube 23 having a wick 26 therein is dropped through opening l3 in top Wall portion 14 to seat a shoulder at the lower end, of an enlarged head 25, on the upper surface of top wall portion H. A flint tube 2? closed at the bottomby screw threaded closure member 29, is

force-fitted in opening M. The flint 28 is elevated in the tube by spring 19 into engagement with the flint wheel as will shortly be pointed out. Due to the higher level of top wall portion .i-2, fuelescaping from the wick will not reach the top of the flint tube or operating means above the same.

The lower part of fuel tank Ill fits closely in the open top of an outer casing 30 closed at its bottomand of less height than the fuel tank. The fuel tank t0 when snugly nested. in the outer casing will extend above the upper edge thereof. Telescop'ed on the upper part of the fuel tank it is an intermediate casing'35, which is a hollow shell of oblong cross-section, open at the top :as well as atthe bottom and of approximately the some internal and "external Width and length in cross-section as the outer casing 30 and is seated on the top edge thereof. Said intermediate casing thus forms a-cont-inuation or extension of the outer casing 38.

.S'a-id intermediate casing comprises sides at, :front and rear walls 3! and 38 respectively, a bridge piece 39 across the top at the front and a bridgepiece 40 across the top at the rear and. at a higher level or elevation. In the 'front wall ii? there is an opening "4| through which the push button 2! can pass. At their rear portions the sides or side walls have "curved top edge portions 42 in-the forms of circular arcs about "an axis substantially the same as that of openings 4% arms 15. 'At their front ends said sides =36 are provided for ventilation purposes with openings -43 preferably in the form of vertical slots.

. :Above the'intermediate casing 35 is the cover proper 29 comprising side walls M, front wall 45 and top'wall 15.. The rear portions of said side walls 44 are bounded by "edges 4 in the form of circular arcs concentric with central openings 48and 48'a in said rear portions of the right-side 3 wall and the left side wall respectively, and the two openings are in axial alignment with each other although opening 48a is of smaller diameter and internally screw threaded. The radii of said circular arc edges 51 are equal and substantially the same as the radii of the curved top edge portions 42 of theintermediate casing 35. The top wall 45 comprises a front portion 39 which may be flat and a rear portion 50 curved to the same radius as the outer edges 41 of the rear portion of said side walls. Top surface 49 is provided with a ridge 48 to serve as a fingerpiece to facilitate closing of the cover.

The two top wall portions 49 and 50 are separated by a depression 5! of V-shaped cross-section. When the cover 25 is closed, the rear edge of the curved rear portion 50 of the cover is just inside the edge of the downwardly inclined forward edge portion 52 of the bridge piece 45 of the intermediate casing 35. Projection or flange 53 at the inner face of the front wall 45 constitutes a latch element to be engaged at its upper surface by projection 22 of the latch l9. The lower edge of the front wall 45 of the cover when the latter is closed, is located just behind the rear edge of the bridge piece 39.

For foreshortening the cap, the intermediate casing 35 is provided as a separate member. This simplifies manufacture and. assembly of the parts and also incorporates the following features: The curvature of the top edge portions 42 of the intermediate member and the corresponding curvature of the rear portions of the side walls 45 of the cover closes the casings at the sides for all positions of the cap. The cooperation of the correspondingly curved rear portion 50 of the top of the cover with the inner surface of the bridge piece Ml closes the top of the casing at the rear in all positions of the cover. Such cooperating curvatures therefore keep the upper parts of the casing closed at the sides and back.

The bearing for the swinging movement of the cap or cover 20 is not actually the pivot pin 81, but

comprises the curved edges 4? of the rear portions of the side walls M of the cover and the curved portions 42 at the upper edges of the side walls 44 of the intermediate casing. The pivot pin merely serves to hold the cap from rising from its bearing.

Inside the front part of the cover 20 is a snuffer proper comprising a tubular part 54 with a flange at its upper end secured to the top wall portion 49 at its underside, and a second tubular part 55 slidably mounted in part 54 and pressed downwardly by a spring 56 to surround the upper end of the wick 24 and engage the head 26 of the wick tube 23, thus extinguishingthe flame. The tubular member 55 is of smaller external diameter than the internal diameter of part 54.

The uiding of part 55 may be attained by passinterposed between said front top wa l portion 4S and said flange 58 and serves to bring flange 58 to rest against flange 51. Such contact will exist when the cover is open. As the cover is moved to closed position the snufier tube moves into engagement with head 26 of the wick tube and during the final closing movement of the cover said spring 56 is compressed. The engagsaid element 53.

4 ing surface at the top of wick tube 23 and the bottom of tube 55 are shown as inclined to increase the effectiveness of the snufiing action.

The completed lighter includes a number of devices mounted on the pivot pin ll between the arms l5 projecting from the top of the feed tank 58. One of these devices is a centrally looped helical spring 55 surrounding the pivot pin 11, one end of the spring extending forwardly below said pivot pin to engage a fixed part such as the forward edge of one of the arms I5 and the other end extending forwardly above the pivot pin and engaging the cover from below. The arrangement is such that closing the cover stresses the spring and upon unlatching the cover, the spring will act to open the same.

Also mountedon pivot pin l? is a flint wheel 69 which has a knurled or roughened cylindrical surface 51. The end face of she flint wheel remote from the spring has one-way teeth 62 cut therein. Mounted on said pivot pin (1 between said teeth 62 and the adjacent arm i5 is a metal washer 65 which is radially split at $5 and is bent toward said teeth 62 at one side of said slit to provide an actuating edge or tooth 55 to engage teeth 52. For actuation by the cover 20, said washer has a circular arc edge portion 6'! of such a radius that it can be received within said curved rear portion 58 of the cover and at each end of said edge portion 6'! are shoulders 68 and 69 resulting from an increase in radius ofsaid washer beyond said points. The remaining edge portion 10' extending from shoulder to shoulder maybe curved according to such increased radius. The shoulder 68 abuts the under sideof the V- shaped depression 51 and the shoulder 89 abuts the rear edge of said curved top wall portion 50, whereby the washer 54 will be constrained to 'move with the cover so that opening of the cover will throw the flint wheel 60.

An important feature of the invention resides in the ease of assembly and of disassembly. The fuel tank I!) with the wick tube 23 and the flint tube 21 placed therein constitute a sub-assembly on which the outer casing 30 and the intermediate casing 35 are assembled to form a casing assembly. The cover 20 may be placed on the intermediate casing 35 in its open or raised position with the arcuate edges 51 of the rear ends of said side walls 44 seated on the arcuate edge portions it? of the sides of the intermediate casing 35.

The pivot pin I! is inserted from the right through opening GB of the cover, through the opening H5 in the adjacent arm l5 of the fuel tank, through the member or washer 84, through the flint wheel 56, the loop of spring 59, the left arm l5, and the threaded reduced end of the pin screwed into the opening 48a in the left side 44 of the cover, as indicated in Fig. 4. In the final assembly one end of the spring 59 extends forwardly over said pivot pin l1 and engages the top wall 55 of the cover frombelow, preferably beneath the V-shaped depression 51, and the other end of the spring extends forwardly beneath the pivot and engages a fixed part preferably the left arm 15 of the fuel tank by means of its eff-turned end.

In Fig. "I, there are disclosures of a modified latch [9a and a modified operating device Zia. The latch element 53 on the cover may be the same as in the first form but the latch 19a has an opening 22a in its upper end to receive Opposite the opening in the the front of the intermediate easing, the corresponding part of the latch is much farther to the rear than in the first form and at this point inside the casing is pivoted the operating device 21ain the form of a rocking member with a flat part engaging the adjacent portion of the latch. At its front the rocking member or finger piece 21a is roughened or knurled so that it can easily be rocked in either direction to release the latch.

It will be understood that the embodiments shown in the drawings are merely by Way of exemplification and that changes may be made therein without departing from the scope and spirit of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by the second hole, a casing telescoped over the top of said tanks and having a front bridge piece and a higher rear bridge piece, the side walls of said casing having in their rear top edges circular arc portions about the axis through the holes in the arms, a top having at rear ends of its side walls circular arc ends fitting in said circular arc portions of the casing and having holes in the part circular ends in alignment with the holes in the arms, a pivot pin through said pairs of holes, spring means urging the cover upwardly, a latch for the forward end of the cover, a flint wheel on said pivot pin, cover-operated means for throwing the flint wheel, and a telescoping snuffer projecting downwardly from the cover to engage said head of the wick tube.

2. In a lighter, a fuel tank having front, back, side and top walls, a wick tube extending upwardly through said top wall, arms extending upwardly from the top of the side walls and having openings therein in transverse registration at a level above said top wall to define the axis of rotation for the snuffer cap, a supplemental casing having side and end walls engaged about and telescoped over the upper end of the fuel tank and extending above the top wall thereof and overlying said arms, the upper edges of the side walls of the supplemental casing having a portion thereof curved concavely to a radius about said axis to receive the snuffer cap and a. snuffer cap having side walls whose rear portions are curved concavely to the same radius as aforementioned for seating in said concavely curved portion formed in the supplemental casing, said side walls of the cap having openings in registration with the openings in the arms, and a pivot pin received in said registering openings and about which the snuffer cap is swung from open to closed position.

3. In a lighter, a fuel tank having front, back, side and top walls, a wick tube extending upwardly through said top wall, arms extending upwardly from the top of the side walls and having openings therein in transverse registration, at a level above the top wall of the fuel tank to define the axis of rotation for the snuffer cap, a supplemental casing having side and end walls engaged about the upper end of the fuel tank and extending above the top wall thereof and overlying said arms, the upper edges of the side walls of the supplemental casing having a portion thereof curved concavely to a radius about said axis to receive the snuffer cap and a snuffer cap having its rear 7 portion formed cylindrically to seat in said concavely curved portion of the supplemental casing, said side walls of the cap having openings in registration with the openings in the arms, and a pivot pin received in said registering openings in the snuffer cap and arms.

4. The combination according to claim 3 wherein the rear and front ends of the supplemental casing are provided with transverse bridge pieces which foreshorten the opening in through the top of the supplemental casing, said snufier cap extending between the bridge pieces and being thus foreshortened with relation to the corresponding dimension of both the fuel tank and the supplemental casing.

RICHARD F. LANDWEHR.

REFERENCES CITED The following, references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 983,238 Kellermann Jan. 31, 1911 1,028,462 Heyman June 4, 1912 1,086,175 Hofmann Feb. 3, 1914 1,487,995 Wilkins Mar. 25, 1924 2,234,768 Maltner Mar. 11, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 356,962 Great Britain Sept. 17, 1931 699,213 Germany Nov; 25, 1940 

